Okay, now back in Matthew chapter
23. I've taken the title of the message
this morning from verse 37. And that is my main text. Matthew 23 and verse 37. Oh Jerusalem,
Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. In this particular verse, And
it's really interesting how God, the Holy Spirit, inspired Matthew
to set this history down. Because right after some of the
most harshest judgments that you read in Scripture concerning
the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders, comes
some of the most compassionate words that you ever hear our
Savior utter, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
he says, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not, ye would not. And this verse certainly sets
forth the intense compassion of our Lord and our Savior, His
sorrow over His people, the lost. What inspired me to study this
passage and preach this message is our study of the book of Jeremiah
in our evening services. Many of you may know that Jeremiah,
the prophet Jeremiah, is sometimes labeled as the weeping prophet. He is a prophet that we learn
more concerning a prophet's heart than any of the other prophets.
We learn some of them concerning their love for Christ and his
truth. But as far as his inner thoughts and his passions and
his sorrows, we learn more about Jeremiah from that book and the
book of Lamentations. Lamentations. What is lamentation? It's a lament. It's a sorrow.
It's an expression of sorrow. And Jeremiah sorrowed over his
generation. His unbelieving, lost generation. The ones to whom he preached.
He had a passion for the souls of men. I think about that a
lot because we who are sinners saved by the grace of God in
Christ. What are we to be passionate
about? zealous about? Well, obviously
we're to be passionate for the glory of God in Christ. We're
to have a passion of worship, that's what that is. Worshipping
God, not just in coming to church and sitting and listening to
a message and singing hymns, but I'm talking about our whole
lives. It's to be a passionate expression of thankfulness to
God. for the great salvation that
He's given us through Christ our Lord and Savior. Because
we didn't earn any of it and we don't deserve any of it. It's
grace, grace, grace. And then we're to have a passion
to exalt Christ in everything we say and do and think and our
attitude to lift Him up. John the Baptist expressed that
passion when he said, I must decrease, Christ must increase. And I fear that sometimes we
preachers, we get in the way instead of decreasing. I thought about that. That's
my calling. It's to decrease. I must decrease, but Christ must
increase. A passion for Christ. A passion
for the truth. To tell the truth. the whole
truth and nothing but the truth as they say in court. Somebody
asked me one time, he said, well, why do you even go into doctrines
such as predestination and election? I'll tell you exactly why. Because
it's God's Word. And I don't have the authority
or the wisdom to pick and choose what I should deliver to the
people of God. This book here, is the foundation
of our faith. Everything we know and believe
concerning Jesus Christ crucified and risen, everything we know
concerning salvation, everything we know of ourselves and of God
Almighty, we know from right here in this book. And if it's
in this book, we're to preach it. And any preacher who avoids
it, he's not sin of God. You say, well, people don't like
that. Well, that's too bad. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. That's
what he's saying here. You didn't like what I'm saying.
But you preach it anyway because it's God's Word and it's good
for the people of God. It exalts Christ and puts the
sinner in the dust where he belongs. I must decrease. Christ must
increase. We're to have a passion for the
church, to edify the church. That means to unify, not at the
expense of truth, not at the expense of the glory of God,
not at the expense of the gospel, but in the truth. And then we're
to have a passion for the lost. That's what evangelism is all
about. I want our church to be a witness of Christ in this community. And we sorrow. when men and women
reject the gospel. We know that all men and women
by nature will and do reject it, including ourselves, but
for the grace of God. Isn't that right? That's exactly
right. Jeremiah sorrowed over his people.
Let me read you a verse of scripture from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah
chapter 9 and verse 1. Just let me read this to you.
Here's Jeremiah the prophet. He said, Oh, that my head were
waters. and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slaying of the daughter
of my people." Think about it. And here in Matthew chapter 23,
this is our Lord and Savior speaking in His humanity. This is what
the Bible calls the infirmities of the flesh or the weaknesses
of the flesh. And here He is speaking out of
His humanity, expressing in these infirmities of the flesh His
anguish and His sorrow over Jerusalem. We see another episode of His
expressing His sorrow and anguish when He was about to go to the
cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was suffering under the
weight of our sins charged to Him. And here you know what people
do with a verse like this. They say, well, this means that
he wanted to save you, but you wouldn't let him. That is not
what this means. Read the scriptures, folks. That's
what people think. But that is not what this means.
First of all, this is not to be attributed to his divine sovereign
will as God to gather the people of the Jews internally, his people
among the Jews. by his spirit and his grace to
himself for all those whom Christ would gather in that sense were
gathered the Bible teaches that notwithstanding all the opposition
made by the scribes and the Pharisees and the rulers of the people
turn over to Jeremiah let me read you this turn over to Jeremiah
23 let me show you something Now in Jeremiah's day, the nation
of Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah, was in rebellion against
God. And Jeremiah preached the word
of God that God gave him to the nation, calling them to repentance.
Now look at Jeremiah 23, look at verse 1. He says, Woe be unto
the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,
saith the Lord. Now keep in mind Matthew 23 when
you're reading this. Remember he said, Woe unto you
scribes and Pharisees. Woe unto you. You shut up the
kingdom of heaven against, for men. You won't let them, you
won't come in, you won't let them in. Now let me ask you a
question. If you wanted to come to Christ, do you think that
anybody could keep you from coming to Christ? Well, absolutely not. If you desire to come to Christ,
do you think a preacher could keep you from doing it? Even
though he might want to? No. Look at verse 2 of Jeremiah
23, he says, Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against
the pastors that feed my people, you've scattered my flock and
driven them away and have not visited them. That doesn't mean
just come to your house. That means you haven't told them
the truth. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings,
saith the Lord. I'm going to bring truth to you
and it's going to be truth in judgment. That's what he's saying.
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries,"
that's God's people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
See, what's he saying? You're not going to stop this.
You pastors that feed the people with lies. "...whether I have
driven them and will bring them again to their foes." This is
what God's going to do. And He says, And they shall be
fruitful and increase, and I will set up shepherds over them which
shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. God's going to
do this. This is what I'm going to do,
God says. And you're not going to stop it. God's sovereign,
people. None can stay His hand or say
unto Him, What doest thou? Man's will does not thwart the
will of God. And if you know anything about
the Bible, you'll know that's so. But what is the basis and
foundation and the great work that has to be done in order
for God to accomplish this? Well, the world will tell you
today, well, you've got to cooperate. You've got to make your decision.
No, look at verse 5. Here's the great work that must
take place in time, must happen in order for all this to come
about according to God's glory and purpose and grace. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Now, who's he talking
about here? This is a prophecy of Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous,
who will come to this earth and take the place of his people
under the law. He was made under the law. and
take their sins under his account and go to the cross of Calvary
and suffer and bleed and die to execute judgment and justice
in the earth. God's justice has to be satisfied. The debt has to be paid. Righteousness
has to be established. And look at verse 6. In his days
Judas shall be saved. You see that? And Israel shall
dwell safely. And this is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now there's the
work right there. Look back at Matthew 23. This
passage speaks of our Lord's human affection and desire as
a man and as a minister of the covenant to gather His people
to Him externally by and under the ministry of His Word to bring
them the truth so that they might be brought to conviction of sin
and unto Him as Messiah. This is not denying His deity.
In fact, this whole passage, it speaks out loudly of His deity. You think about it. He says, how often would I have
gathered thy children together? What man, what mere man could
gather people unto himself? I'm not talking about just gain
of following. People can do that, but that's not going to last.
This gathering unto himself speaks of their salvation. What mere
man could do that? Only God can do that. Only God. He said back here in verse 34,
look here. Matthew 23, 34. He says, Wherefore, behold, I
send you prophets and wise men and scribes. Now, who are these
prophets? Well, they are the prophets of
the Old Testament. Now, who sent those prophets to Israel? God
did. Christ said, Behold, I send you
prophets. They foretell and foretell the
Word of God. These wise men here, those are
those who preach the gospel of God's grace in Christ. That's
what the Holy Spirit uses to make men wise unto salvation.
These scribes here, scribes are interpreters of the Bible, the
Scriptures. Most of the time when you hear
the term scribes, it's a negative, isn't it? How many times have
you used that term up here in these verses that Brother Joe
read? Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Those were the scribes
of the Pharisees. They were false scribes. But
these scribes that he sends are men like Ezra. Ezra the scribe
who stood from the pulpit of wood and preached the Word of
God and gave them the sense of it. He preached Christ. He preached
salvation by the sovereign grace of God in Christ, not by the
works of men, not by the wills of men, but by God's grace in
Christ. Somebody says, well, I don't
like that. That's the natural man. He receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. No, none of us like it by nature.
And it says, and some of them you kill and crucify, and some
of them shall you scourge in your synagogues and persecute
them from city to city. You're running from city to city.
Now who sends the prophets? God does. Christ said, I did.
You see, He is God in human flesh. His divine will as God is always
fulfilled. The Bible says, Romans 9, 19,
for who has resisted His will? Ephesians 1 and verse 11, He
works all things after the counsel of His own will. He does whatsoever
He pleases. None can stay His hand or say
unto Him, What doest thou? Daniel chapter 5. His divine
will is sovereign, it's unchangeable, and it's always accomplished.
His word goes out to accomplish the purpose that He sends it,
and He says, It will not return void. Man cannot thwart the purpose
of God. Also back here in Matthew 23,
now listen to the scripture. Listen to it again. Oh Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sin unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as... He didn't say how often would
I have gathered you together. He says how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings, and you would not. Those of whom it said that
Christ would have gathered are not said to be unwilling to be
gathered here. But their rulers were not willing
that they should be. The scribes and the Pharisees.
Look back at verse 13. Listen to what he says. But woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Now did you
hear what that said? There's a people who are entering
in, but they don't want it to happen. They don't allow it.
Do they stop it? Do you think they can do that?
I'm going to tell you something. If you think that men can stop
the people of God from entering into the kingdom of God, you
have a very, very weak, pitiful, small God. You have an idol. Who's going to stop a child of
God from entering into the kingdom? Who's going to do that? Nobody. You see, their opposition to
the desire of Christ was not made here by the people, but
by their leaders. That's who he's talking about.
Now we know, the Bible says, whosoever calls upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. That's right. I can tell you
without fail, anybody who calls upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. But we also know that man by nature is not willing
to do so. Christ said that to the Pharisees
of his day. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. Turn over to Romans chapter 9.
I'm sorry, Romans chapter 3. And I've always told you to read
this. When most people read this, They kind of have what I call
the accept me syndrome or the accept me theology. Because they have to. If you
believe that salvation is in any way to any degree conditioned
on the sinner, you have to read passages like this and you have
to just put out there, oh, accept me, accept me, accept me. Look at it, verse 10. As it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one. That doesn't mean
there's none religious now. That doesn't mean there's none
sitting in the pews or none going to church. It means there's none
who have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. You don't have. That's what iniquity
is all about. I don't measure up. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory. That means we don't measure
up. No matter how good we try to be, the best we've got, the
best we are, it doesn't measure up. We all fall short. And then he says in verse 11,
now listen, there's none that understandeth, there's none that
seeketh after God. That's man by nature, left to
himself, left to his own will. Now if you don't believe that,
just take a pen and in your Bible put, except me. Right up beside
it. It's kind of like I was listening
to a message last week. And a fellow was talking about
an organization that was bent on evangelism. You know what
evangelism is? It's going out and seeking the
lost, preaching the gospel. And he said their motto was this.
Now listen to it. Here's their motto. He said,
God is looking for a man. God is looking for a better man. One that will believe him. Now
is that evangelism? Is God looking for a better man?
I want to tell you something, the Bible teaches this, there's
only one better man, read the book of Hebrews, better, better
Christ, the God man. When God found Abraham in Ur
of the Chaldees, the land of idolatry, was he looking for
a better man? Is that what he found? Paul said
in Romans chapter 4, that's not what he found, he said when he
found Abraham, here's an example of God justifying who? The ungodly. When God found old
Saul of Tarsus walking on the Damascus road, was he looking
for a better man then? Is that what he found? No, he
found a man bent on the destruction of Christianity. And he saved
him in spite of himself. You know, people read the Old
Testament, like in Jeremiah. Jeremiah is talking about a wicked
generation there. But he speaks, he's talking about
Israel and Judah and Jerusalem. Christ says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And Jeremiah speaks of the decadence
and the idolatry and the hypocrisy of the people of his day, and
yet he speaks of a brighter future. for Israel, a brighter future
for Judah, a brighter future for Jerusalem. Now in what or
in whom does that brighter future exist? Is it because there will
be a better class of people in the future who will cooperate?
No. It's because of Christ and Him
crucified and risen. Here's the brighter future. who
reconciled us unto God according to the book of Colossians when
we were alienated in our minds and in wicked works. That even when we were enemies,
Christ died for the ungodly. Look back at Romans 3 here. There's
none that understand. There's none that seeketh after
God. Who's he describing here? He's describing all of us by
nature. in our fallen, sinful, human
nature. Now look at verse 12. They are
all gone out of the way. We'll go ways, but it won't be
God's way. They'll all together become unprofitable.
The way we go will be unprofitable because it's always the way of
the works and the wills of men. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Now if you don't believe that,
again, take your pen out, but except me. You see what I'm saying? Go to John chapter 1. Let me
ask you this question. And I want to answer it with
the Bible. Whenever we find a sinner who is willing to come to Christ. Now think about this. Whenever
we find a sinner who is willing to bow to the claims of King
Jesus. to submit to His blood and His
righteousness alone as that which saves me and keeps me and brings
me to glory. To say that I'm a sinner, I deserve
condemnation, a sinner who's willing to take sides with God
against himself. And say, God, if you would mark
iniquities, who would stand? Not me. If you gave me what I
deserve based on my best, it would be eternal damnation. and
who's willing to cling to Christ, the God-man, for righteousness,
for forgiveness, for glory. Whenever you find a sinner who's
willing to do that, where did that come from according to the
Bible? How did that sinner get to that point? Was it by his
own free will? Well, read John chapter 1 and
verse 11. He says here, He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not. Now some people say that means
His own nation. I think it means even His elect by nature. But verse 12, But as many as
received Him, to them gave He power. Now that word power there
is the word right or privilege. You may have that in your concordance.
As many as received Him, now some did not receive Him, but
some do. As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." All right, they believe. Here's a sinner who
believes. Now, there's some who don't believe.
All right, what made the difference? Look at verse 13. "...which were
born, not of blood." Now, that means it didn't come by your
heritage. You weren't born into it, into
your family. "...nor of the will of the flesh,
That's the works of men. That's what that's talking about.
It didn't come by the works of the flesh nor of the will of
man. That's the will. It didn't come
by your free will. Your will's in bondage just like
all of us by nature until God sets it free. But how did it
come? They were born of God. God did it. You didn't do it. God did it. Salvation is of the
Lord. And that means this, our justification
before God, the fact that I'm not guilty, cleared of all guilt,
declared righteous in Christ, His righteousness imputed, charged
to me, that's of the Lord. That took place on the cross
when Christ died for my sins. And my sanctification, my new
birth by the power of the Spirit, that's of the Lord. My preservation,
that's of the Lord. And my glorification is of the
Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. We are
His workmanship, not our own, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them. It's the work of God. That's
what He's saying. Paul said in Romans chapter 9,
it's not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but
of God that showeth mercy. God chose a people, Christ died
for them, and they will be effectually called into the kingdom of Christ,
and no man will ever be able to stop them. No man. Go back to Matthew 23 now. Now there is divine redemptive
love which ensures the salvation of all its objects by removing
every obstacle, fulfilling every condition, providing every means
of salvation. That's the work of God. That's
the salvation is of the Lord. Here Christ in His human love
shows itself in compassion, in acts of kindness and mercy. Christ
is the perfect man made under the law shows this human love
here. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Now listen to what he says. Look
at verse 37 again. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets. The tense of the verb there,
that killest, is one that indicates continual action. Constant action. In other words, this isn't just
a one-time thing for Jerusalem. It was their constant characteristic. Read the Old Testament. Jeremiah
had a lot of opposition. Isaiah had a lot of opposition.
They all did. Everybody who told the truth had a lot of opposition.
And you know where the worst opposition came from? Not from
the bars and the brothels. It came from the synagogues,
the temple, the religious. because they are the people who
hate the truth of the gospel the most. And you know why? John
chapter 3 and verse 19. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world and men love darkness and hate
the light because their deeds are evil. It exposes their deeds
as being evil because they're aimed in opposition to the glory
of God in Christ. Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets, But look on here, he says, how oft, he says, you
stone them which are sent to thee. How often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and you would not. Now look at verse 38. He
says, behold, your house is left desolate unto you. Now that's
the state of things without Christ. Desolation, destruction, condemnation,
without Christ. without his blood to wash away
my sins, without his righteousness to justify me, without the Holy
Spirit to give life, all there is is death, desolation, and
condemnation without Christ. That's what he's saying. Your
house, and most commentators agree, and I believe this is
true, that the house that he's talking about here is the temple. that temple that was commissioned
by God through Solomon or through Solomon that was destroyed and
then it was rebuilt again, built back up here by Herod. That religious
edifices, somebody said that Jerusalem was the most religious
city in the history of mankind. And yet he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou which killest the prophets, and stone those I send to you.
What is he sending the prophets and these men to tell them the
truth? He says, your house is left desolate. But look at verse
39. He says, for I say unto you,
you shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord. What's he teaching
here? He's got a remnant of people
out of this Jerusalem. And he says, You shall not see
me henceforth till you shall say, Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. Now that can be taken in two
senses according to Scripture. In this sense, every knee is
going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that he's
Lord. My friend, let me tell you something right now. I'll
say this with a heart of sorrow. If you continue to reject this
gospel that exalts this Christ and die in your sins, I'm going
to tell you right now, you're going to bow to the claims of
Christ in judgment. But the mainstay of what he's
saying here is that he has a people who by the power and grace of
God are going to proclaim Most commentators agree this comes
out of Psalm 118 that I read at the beginning. Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord. In other words, instead
of stoning the prophets and killing the prophets, those who come
to tell us the truth, we're going to say, oh, how blessed we are
to hear of Christ. He's talking about here the conversion
of many Jews along with the Gentiles. He's talking about His sovereign
will of Christ for His people. Look at John chapter 6. I'll
hurry here. Look here, John chapter 6. Here's
what He's saying there. Now the scribes and the Pharisees,
what did He say? You shut up the kingdom of God.
You won't enter in. You don't want anybody else to
enter in. You go out and you encompass sin and land to gain
proselytes to your faith. They are getting to believe what
you believe. And when you get them in, all you do is make them
two-fold more the child of hell than you are. But here is what he is saying
here. Look at verse 37. He is saying, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Blessed is he. He says in verse
38, For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me, his submission to the will of
the Father for the salvation of his people. And this is the
Father's will. Listen to this, verse 39. This
is the Father's will which has sent me that of all which he
hath given me I should lose what? Nothing. but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up
at the last day. That's His will. There's a day when all shall
acknowledge who Christ is and what He's done, the wicked to
their eternal cursedness, but sinners saved by grace, to their
eternal blessedness. You know, let me close with this.
I want you to turn to Galatians chapter 4. I want you to think
about what Christ was saying. He said, O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets.
Do you know that the Bible clearly teaches that there are two Jerusalems? You say, well, where is the other
preacher? Well, I'm going to show you. There are two Jerusalems.
Look at Galatians 4 and verse 21. He says, Tell me, you that
desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Now, what
is it to desire to be under the law? It's to believe that you're
saved by your works or your will. That's right. He says, For it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh. Now you know who that's talking
about. That's Ishmael. But he of the free woman was by promise.
That's Isaac. You know the story. Abraham,
Sarah, and Hagar. Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was
born of the flesh. That was Abraham's doing. That's
Abraham and Sarah's doing actually with Hagar. But Isaac was the
child of promise. He was a miracle birth. And he
says in verse 24, which things are an allegory? They're symbols.
These are symbolic. For these are the two covenants.
The one from Mount Sinai, that's the law, that was a conditional
covenant upon the people, which gendereth the bondage, which
is Hagar. Conditional covenants put you
in bondage. Why? Because you can't meet the
conditions. You can't do it. You think you
can. That's self-righteousness. That's
unbelief. Whenever you come to see that
you can't meet the required conditions, just like I told you one time,
a fellow asked me, he said, well, what's required for salvation?
And I told him, I said, righteousness, perfection. He said, well, nobody
can do that. I said, that's right. That's
why salvation is by grace and not by works. That's why Christ
came into the world. But verse 25, For this Agar is
Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. Jerusalem which now is. What
is that Jerusalem which now is? They that killeth the prophets,
and stone of those whom God sends, whose house is desolate. That's
Jerusalem that now is. Do you think it's any different
today? Well, let me ask you this question. Do they believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ? Are they under his headship?
Are they submitted to his righteousness alone? Are they seeking salvation
by their works and their wills? That's Jerusalem that now is.
He says in verse 26, but Jerusalem which is above, that's heavenly
Jerusalem, folks. That's the city of peace for
the children of God, both Jew and Gentile, all who believe
in Christ. Jerusalem, which is above, is
free, which is the mother of us all. For it's written, rejoice
thou barren that bearest not, and break forth and cry that
thou travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are children of the promise, the promise of the
gospel. And then in Hebrews chapter 12, he says it here, verse 22. He says, But you are come unto
Mount Sinai, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made
perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the
blood of sprinkling that speak of better things than of Abel. You think that man can stop and
thwart the purpose and power of God with his puny will? Absolutely not. Christ lamented
and sorrowed with compassion over the lost. And we should
too. But don't let that sorrow and compassion bring us to despair. Because you see, God has a people. And He's going to bring them
to Christ. You say, well, where does that leave me? That leaves
you with no hope but Christ and Him crucified and risen. Now
you come to Him. Don't you sit there and worry
about the sovereign purpose of God and what He's done in His
eternal mind, because you're not that big, and neither am
I. You come to Christ. You bow to
what this book says concerning the God who saves sinners by
His grace through Christ.